Five Minutes with Brett Weidl
We sat down with Brett Weidl, Landscape Architect and MKSK’s Chicago Design Studio Leader, to learn more about her passion for projects that build communities and connect people to place.
What project had the most impact on your career?
In my early years at MKSK (formerly MSI) as a young designer (2004-2009), I lived in downtown Columbus, two blocks from one of my first design projects, The Scioto Mile and Bicentennial Park. This was an incredibly impactful time in my career seeing how a truly visionary design of one urban space could change the identity and future trajectory of a downtown neighborhood. From an underutilized roadway and park to an activated, equitable, and vibrant beloved community space, it showed me how a boldly envisioned, invested, and programmed space can positively activate, enliven, and strengthen community and place.
How has your passion for public space impacted engagement with and for your community?
After relocating to Chicago and as a new Mom, I was eager to become involved in the community where we had just purchased our first home. Uptown is a diverse and culturally rich community on Chicago’s north side. At the time however, there was a lot of crime in the neighborhood and with a struggling public space right outside my door, through positive programming and community building, I worked to transform an unsafe public space into a community asset. Founder of Uptown Moms Group Wants To Change Perception of Sunnyside Mall - Uptown - Chicago - DNAinfo.
Casual meet-ups in the Sunnyside Mall became more structured. Together with neighbors, we co-founded a group to steward the Sunnyside Mall; we planned outdoor movie nights, art fairs, clean-up days, block parties, etc., all to bring positive activation and safety to our neighborhood space while strengthening community and stewardship. We also implemented a quick-hit tactical urbanism event that seemingly popped up overnight to bring attention to and help people appreciate and rethink how we use our urban community spaces - Orange Dots and Balloons Jazz Up the Sunnyside Pedestrian Mall – Streetsblog Chicago.
My community-based work grew in depth and volume as time went on. The first summer of the pandemic, while working at SmithGroup, I worked to assist Uptown in aiding local businesses with a newly permitted city outdoor dining program called ‘Make Way for Dining’, enabling restaurants and bars to move their operations outdoors and utilize the parking lanes for more usable space when patrons could not dine indoors during lock-downs. This unique time also prompted the rethinking of our urban public spaces to be even more equitable, flexible, and sustaining for our communities who rely so heavily on them for their health and general well-being - Rethinking Public Space With Empathy: Returning Downtown During & After COVID | SmithGroup.
My community work has expanded both within Uptown, working with a local school on a new, inclusive schoolyard design, A Playspace for All (being constructed this summer) and also with City agencies and neighborhood groups on a new Vision plan for Clark Street, called Clark Street Crossroads within the Uptown/Ravenswood/Andersonville neighborhoods.
Throughout the City, I’ve had the opportunity to develop planning studies for the Chicago Invest South/West initiative and have recently been a part of an effort with the Chicago Alfresco program (the next generation of ‘Make Way for Dining’) that’s bringing short-term public open spaces to neighborhoods throughout the City of Chicago in support of local businesses and communities like Back of the Yards. Coming this summer, Caminata 47 will transform a city side street along the 47th Street corridor into a vibrant community space: https://www.designtrustchicago.org/back-of-the-yards-alfresco.
As a community advocate, how has your belief in collaboration helped with the implementation of transformative and community-driven ideas?
I used to walk through the streets of my neighborhood seeing opportunities for improvement and thinking “I wish someone would…” but I’ve come to realize that for change to happen, someone needs to champion that change; I’ve felt empowered to advocate for the change I want to see in my City. Through the course of my career and through community service work, I’ve learned that no vision is too big. When a community can dream it and collaborate together, they can achieve it. That’s why working within the beautiful and diverse communities of Chicago is so important to me. When people come together with a common purpose, the sky is the limit.
Through advocacy with and for communities, I’ve learned to work hand-in-hand with City agencies, local neighbor groups, and design collaborators to strive towards, solidify, and achieve the bold visions and dreams that communities hold for their futures. Sometimes urban spaces may feel insignificant, but to the people who live there, transformational design impacts their day-to-day experiences by improving safety and sustainability, creating beauty, and communicating the authenticity and richness of place. Investing in these environments enhances the foundational and essential experiences of life within an urban context; creating vibrancy and strengthening communities through the people who live there.
Brett Weidl, PLA, ASLA, LEED AP, Senior Associate, is a Landscape Architect and Urban Designer with 17 years experience shaping urban spaces and strengthening communities towards increased equity, accessibility, and beauty. Brett’s passion for community engagement and inspiring public spaces is something she incorporates into her day-to-day work. She continuously seeks opportunities to strengthen communities by focusing on the people who reside there and the spaces in which they inhabit. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from The Ohio State University and continues her community work through volunteer efforts within the neighborhoods of Chicago and Evanston and involvement as a Director of the Burnham Council of the Chicago Central Area Committee.